Enzymatic transesterification of lipids from microalgae into biodiesel: a review

Biodiesel is considered as a potential interesting alternative diesel substitute due to its many advantages, such as biodegradability and non-toxicity. Biodiesel production worldwide is low and does not meet the needs of society. Therefore, biodiesel production policies have been implemented by various countries. This paper addresses the issues of plant materials containing lipids for biodiesel production and explores also the avenue of microalgae as an alternative. Various conversion technologies of lipids into biodiesel are also described and compared. Enzymatic transesterification would be most appropriate when microalgae oils are used because of their high free fatty acids content. The optimization of the enzymatic process depends on several parameters such as the catalyst, temperature, reaction time and the alcohol: oil molar ratio.